


Write On Me, Color Outside The Lines

by VesperRiver



Series: These Colors On My Skin [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Awkwardness, Canon Trans Character, Chatting & Messaging, Crying, Depression, Embarrassment, First Day of School, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Marching Band, Multi, Nonbinary!Taako, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s), References to Depression, Slow Burn, Soulmate AU, Texting, merle and davenport adopted taako and lup, past trauma, soulmate au where you write on your skin and it appears on your soulmates, the raven queen is kravitz's mom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-07-29 03:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16256213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VesperRiver/pseuds/VesperRiver
Summary: Taako made the mistake of dating someone who isn't his soulmate, he's basically lost hope of ever finding them. He's not entirely ready for senior year either. Until that new kid in town makes an appearance at school and then everything changes.title is from "Write On Me" by Fifth Harmony





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinkin about the song that i used for the title as i was writing the taakitz week prompt that spawned this and i was like,,, yes,,,, this fits what i want to write
> 
> im still deciding if i should incorporate shit from my own school cuz im currently a senior myself lol, cuz why the fuck not?? well the only thing im not going to try to put in is the senior I.D. photos tho cuz thats gonna be hard as hell to do (yeah i go to that school where they allow seniors to dress up for their I.D. photos, i did it, i dressed up as taako)

Senior year starts next week and Taako is dreading it. He hasn’t gotten any signs that he has a soulmate yet and he isn't even sure if he wants one or not. Though it's mostly due to the fact that he had dated someone over the summer for a short time, thinking that it would work out when it clearly wouldn’t. 

He and Sazed were not made for each other. Quite literally, actually. They did not get anything when they wrote on their arms. 

Those who do not get the marks of their soulmates by the end of high school usually never get one. Those who try to date someone who isn’t their soulmate, it ends horribly. 

Taako wishes he had known because his last relationship ended with him feeling broken. 

He’s almost hoping he won’t ever get one, but he doesn’t want to be alone for the rest of his life either. 

Well, technically he won’t be alone. He has his friends and adopted fathers, but it will never be the same as having a soulmate.

So right now, he's listening to sad songs and moping in his room.

There's a knock at the door.

“Hey Ko? Can I come in?” Lup asks.

He pauses his music, “yeah” he says.

Lup comes in an sits on the edge of his bed, he can't help staring at her arms. The fading messages and hearts that are written across them and feels a pang of jealousy.

“How’re you feeling?” she asks. 

“Fine,” he lies and sits up.

His twin is silent, she opens her arms for a hug and he throws himself into them. 

“What if I never get a soulmate?” he whispers, tears on the verge of falling. 

“You'll get one, I promise,” she says comfortingly, “now cmon, Dav made dinner. You can come and get some if you’re hungry.” 

He nods and sniffles, he lets go of her. It would be nice to get out of his room for a bit.

Lup takes his hand and takes him down the stairs to the kitchen where Merle and Davenport are sitting at the table waiting for the two of them.

“Oh look who decided to come out of his room!” Merle jokes, “feeling any better, kid?” He asks.

Taako stares at the symbols and writings on their arms and the jealous feeling resurfaces. “Fine.” He says almost bitterly.

“Do you two have everything ready for school? Need any supplies?”

Lup nods and takes a bite out of her food, “got everything thing, yeah.”

Taako just shrugs and picks at his food, taking a few occasional bites. 

“Taako,” Davenport says softly, “I know you’re not really looking forward to senior year. Please try though, you have a whole support system behind you. We’re here for you.” 

“Yeah, kid.” Merle takes a bite out of his food, “Dav and I didn’t find each other until after high school. We’re one of those rare cases who happen to find their soulmate late.” He says, a serious look forming on his face, “I went through what you went through, but I got a fucking kid out of it and I can’t even see him.”

Taako is silent, Merle never really talked about his past before Davenport. He didn’t know that he was like him, or that he had an actual kid.

“I didn’t realize that he wasn’t your soulmate until it was too late, I didn’t have a support system of friends or anything. But you do and we’re here for you.” Merle says seriously.

“Yeah, ko! You got me!” Lup says with a smile, “and Maggie, Lucy, Barry, Carey, Ren, Killian and basically everyone else."

He feels the tears start to fall again, and he can’t help it. Maybe he doesn’t have to worry. Maybe everything will be alright.

“Aw,” she smiles, “are these happy tears?” lup teases.

“Fuck off, lLulu” taako hiccups, and smiles.

“Oh shit! A smile!” Her smile widens.

“Shut up!” He buries his face into his arms, face burning in embarrassment.

Davenport chuckles, “alright, I think that’s enough you two.” 

“Aw cmon Dad'n'port!” Lup whines, “this is the first time I’ve seen him smile in a while.”

Taako lets out a loud sigh and lifts his head, “Why you gotta do me like that Lulu.”

“Do what? Cheering you up? It worked.”

“Guess it did.” He smiles, “Merle?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Thank you for that, uh, I guess.”

“No problem.” Merle smiles warmly.

~~

Kravitz stares out the window of the car and watches the scenery go by. 

“Are you excited to go to a new school Kravitz?” his mother asks.

He shrugs, “dunno.”

“Maybe you’ll find your soulmate here, wouldn’t that be nice?” 

“I guess?” He shrugs again.

“Kravitz,” his mother sighs, “I know you don’t like that we’re moving, at the start of Senior year as well, no less. But I had gotten an offer for a job that I couldn’t pass up. Can you at least be happy for me?” She asks.

“Yeah, I’ll try.” He says giving her a smile.

Kravitz didn’t really want to do this, He was leaving a life behind a whole state away.

Though he didn’t really have many friends back home either so this will be a new beginning and the potential for new friends.

And the soulmate thing? He’s unsure if he actually wants one or not. There has been no writing on him yet, aside from the little marks he writes on himself in case of his soulmate ever responds. So far? Nothing. He almost wants to give up on trying to find them.

His mother had a soulmate. But he disappeared when he was young. Nobody knows what happened. His supposed father left without a trace. 

“Thank you, dear, moving here will be a good opportunity for both of us.” She smiles and the car goes silent except for the obnoxious pop music playing on the radio that he really doesn’t care for.

Kravitz pulls out his phone and untangles his earbuds from his pocket, he plugs them in and turns on his music. 

The rest of the way to his new home is spent listening to MCR and once again starting out the window of the car like he’s in some sort of sad music video. Not really looking forward to starting school in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and the possibility of having no soul mate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako wakes up late. Kravitz has an awkward first hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk if im doing the hormone stuff right but like anways,,, idk if yalls high school has link leaders (like ppl who taught freshman The Ways Of The School or some shit) like we do, but like yeah. 
> 
> i literally had to look at what my own school offered class wise, so taako taking business management is based off of a class that I am Taking at this very moment. so thank you to people from the taz fic writers discord for allowing me to use their names in this for the teachers!
> 
> EDIT 1/4/19: i removed the part with the hormones and replaced it with taako mentioning volleyball

Taako blinks blearily and groans at the sound of his alarm blaring on his phone.

He stayed up late last night watching James Charles videos and he is really regretting it now. 

He groans loudly and turns off the alarm, almost tempted to fall back asleep right then and there. Fuck school, honestly

Then, there’s a knock at his bedroom door that startles him, effectively waking him up again.“Hey Ko! Time to wake up!” Lup's voice calls through the door.

“Waking up early is homophobic, Lu!” He yells back and gets his ass out of bed.

“You’re only saying that because you stayed up super late last night!” She yells back, “now get ready, let’s not be late to school on the first day!” 

He groans again and actually gets up this time and digs through the mess that he calls a closet. Eventually, he finds something that’s good enough of an outfit to wear to school. Taako also picks up his binder that he had left on the floor and contemplates whether he should wear it today or not.

He shrugs, puts it on anyways and finishes getting dressed for the day. He throws on a sweater that used to be one of Magnus's as well, especially since sweaters can hide his arms. Then, he heads into the bathroom to do his usual morning routine.

When he finishes getting ready, Taako heads into the kitchen where Lup is waiting for him and his dads are eating breakfast.

“Yknow, for being twins, I can see a clear difference between the both of you,” Merle says with a smile, “like Lup, you’re definitely a morning person and Taako, you are so not. Just one of the things I’ve noticed over these past few of years.”

“He likes to stay up til fuck o’clock at night,” Lup adds.

“Last night was an accident, though,” he whines and rubs at his eyes. “I totally meant to go to bed earlier, but I got distracted.” he yawns and pours himself a cup of coffee into his travel mug. Trying not to look at the writing on his family’s arms as he does so. 

“Sure,” She says sarcastically.

“Ugh,” he groans as he pours the flavored creamer into the coffee before he takes a muffin off the table.

“Suck it up, I’m driving.” She hands him his backpack and barely waits for him to put his shoes on before she’s out the door. 

"You wearing your binder today, kid?" Merle asks and smiles when Taako nods as hes walking out the door, "Make sure to take it off after school!" 

“I know! I got volleyball practice after school so i'll just change into a sports bra,” He says, lifting the bag with his stuff onto his shoulder.

“Love you both!” Davenport says.

“Ditto! I got band practice after school too!” Lup says in return as he closes the door behind him, “We don’t need to pick up Maggie and Julia, because he got his own car, so only Barry and Luce,” she mutters to herself as she pulls out of the driveway. 

It doesn't take long to get to Barry’s house and luckily Lucretia’s house is next door. 

Lup honks the horn and the two come out of Luce’s house with Angus standing in the doorway waving goodbye.

“So what are you guys’ schedules?” Taako asks, “I got Business Management first hour.” 

“AP Studio Art,” Lucretia says with a smile.

“Nice!.” 

“I think I got forensics?” Lup shrugs, “I can’t check cuz I’m driving.”

“Oh, I got that too.” Barry chimes in.

“Fuck yeah, bear!”

"I mean I could be wrong too," Lup shrugs. 

“If we don’t have the same lunch I will riot.” Lucretia deadpans.

“Fucking mood!” Lup laughs as she pulls into the school parking lot. 

“Share your schedules again in the group chat, guys.” Taako says as he gets out of the car right before he’s crushed in a hug by Magnus, “Put me down!” he laughs.

“I’m happy you’re happy!” the taller boy grins, “Isn't that my sweater?” 

“Maybe, but it’s mine now.” Taako shrugs, waving at Julia, Carey, and Killian. 

“That’s fine, you can have it.” 

The eight of them walk into the school and are greeted by Ren who is waiting in the spot that the large group declared as theirs last school year. 

“Hey Y'all!” she smiles, and Taako notices the little heart message on the back of her hand and can't help but feel a bit bitter. She had found her soulmate over the summer at a camp, unlike himself thanks to his failed relationship. 

“Ren! My dude!” he puts on a smile and hugs her.

“We’re doing culinary club again this year, right?” she asks.

“Of fucking course we are! You’re vice president.” 

“Have you seen anyone else yet?” 

“I thought I saw Maureen around, but I don't know about Johann and Avi” Ren shrugs and gives Taako a thumbs up.

“They’re probably in class already because they didn't have somebody who slept in too late,” Lup says and gives her twin an accusatory glance.

Taako rolls his eyes and realizes that now, he's the only one in his friend group without a soulmate. The thirteenth wheel. Why did fate hate him so?

“Taako? Are you okay?” Lucretia asks making everyone stare at him. 

Normally he enjoys being the center of attention, but not like this. This just makes him uncomfortable. “Yeah, I'm okay.” He sort of lies.

Lucretia gives him a smile and half hugs him, “Okay, I should probably go find Maureen before school starts.” She says and walks off.

“What school does Noelle go to, Ren?” Magnus asks.

“Shit, I don’t know. But we were talkin’ the other day and she asked her folks if they could move closer so we can see each other more,” Ren smiles.

“Nice, hows Brian doing?”

“Oh, he and Edward are doing good. Edward’s still a dick though,” she grimaces.

“When will the wonder twins ever not be total dicks?” Magnus says as the first bell rings.

“True, see y'all later!” Ren waves and drags Taako towards their first hour. “Okay, seriously, are you okay? You looked and still look upset.” She says. 

“I’m the only one in our friend group without a soulmate now, Ren.” He says almost bitterly, “now with what happened over the summer, I’m not even sure if I want one now.” 

“Oh don’t be like that…” she takes his hands and squeezes it.

“I fucked up big time Ren,” he says almost folding in on himself. “I shouldn’t have trusted him as much as I did.” 

“Hey, Hey. Stop blaming yourself for that shit,” she stops him in the middle of the hallway and looks him dead in the eyes, “we all thought we could trust him. Yes, it eventually was going to go to shit because y'all weren’t actually soulmates. Yeah, we could’ve seen how much of an asshole he was and I’m sorry we didn’t.” She says pulling him into an actual hug. “But if you want to be happy, you need to get over it. He ain’t here no more. He ain’t gonna hurt you no more.” 

Taako does his best not to cry, “Yeah. I know.”

She lets go of him, and looks at the nearby clock, “Shit, we're gonna be late,” she laughs.

He smiles back. He may not have a soulmate but he has friends who care for him. Merle was right about that. Maybe he doesn't need one. 

~~~~~

“Have a good first day of school, dear,” his mother smiles warmly.

She didn’t add “try to make friends” but he knew that was implied. “Okay, love you,” he says as he closes the door. 

“Love you too,” he hears her say as the car door closes.

He stares up at the school, intimidating and daunting and somewhat underwhelming. This school is definitely smaller than his old one. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad. Kravitz takes a deep breath and enters the school. He turns for a moment and sees his mother’s car drive out of the parking lot. 

Kravitz takes another deep breath and enters the office, “Um, I’m new. What's my schedule?” he asks.

The receptionist looks at him and smiles, “Sure, what’s your name? We can get a link leader to show you around the school.” 

“Um, Kravitz Queen,” he says. Someone to show him around would be nice. 

“Okay,” she says over-enthusiastically and hands him a piece of paper with his schedule for the whole year, but the current classes are highlighted. 

“Thank you,” he says and stands around awkwardly until a link leader shows up.

A few moments later, two boys who look around his age both wearing those link leader shirts step into the office. 

“Thank you, Avi and Johann. You will be showing Kravitz here around the school. He is new.” the receptionist says. 

These two are holding hands so Kravitz assumes that they’re soulmates. His suspicions are confirmed when he sees music notes on the palm of the taller boy. This, for some reason, leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

“Sup, I'm Avi, and this Johann, as Ms. Antonia said. Now, let's see your schedule.” 

He shows them his schedule, he hadn't even really had the chance to look at it himself.

“You have Mr. Crow first hour for AP Studio Art. Neat.” 

“Oh hey, I have AP music theory third hour too. Mrs. Kath is really nice. Not to confuse her with the other Ms. Kat who you have as your English teacher.” Johann sats with a smile.

“Oof. AP calc.” Avi winces, “but Mx. Dan is a good teacher.”

“Forensics? That's wild. I heard you get to solve a fake murder as your final.” 

From what it sounds like, these two are just judging his schedule, which does not help with his first time being at this school and also his self-esteem.

“They were just joking around,” Johann frowns, “you don't need to take it so seriously.” 

He nods, “can you, uh, show me around the school now?”

“Oh yeah, that's what we're supposed to be doing. By the way, what grade are you in?”

“I'm a senior.”

They both grin, “Same.” Avi says and holds the door open for the both of them. 

The tour around the school is easy enough, but remembering where to go probably isn't. Johann warns him about that one hallway that's always hell to get through, but luckily he doesn't have any classes down that hallway. 

“It sucks that we don't have the same lunch as everyone else.” Avi says, “but I think Maureen and Killian have our lunch too.” he shrugs.

“Yeah. Those are our friends too, by the way,” Johann says.

“Depending on what lunch you have, you can come and sit with us if you'd like. We sit in the corner by the trophy cases by the lunch room.

He nods. He might consider joining them. “Thank you for the tour.”

“No problem, if you need any more help, look out for the people with the link leader shirts.”

He nods and heads towards his first hour, AP studio art. There are two people minus the teacher in the room already. 

He notices that they are also soulmates, just by the way that the two are acting. Close contact, and a certain look that you would only give someone you love. He feels… bitter again. He doesn't exactly know why. 

But these two people look up at him as he comes in and look back down at whatever they're doing. 

One has a small afro of seemingly dyed golden hair and dark skin with a pencil stuck between one of her ears. The other girl has her dark brown hair tied up into a bun, she has wide-rimmed glasses and tan skin. They seem to be both drawing on the same piece of paper, but the darker skinned girls doodle is more like a full on drawing.

“Are you here for AP or drawing and painting?” the dark-skinned girl asks.

“AP, uh I didn’t know that drawing and painting were held at the same time, am I in the right room?” 

She smiles, “yep,” her voice dripping with gravitas, “there are not enough AP art students to have their own class hour so they're just combined with other classes.” 

“Oh. uh, well I’m new to this school so,” he shrugs, sitting across from the two girls.

“Cool, I’m Maureen.” the other girl says waving, “I am definitely not an art student.” 

“I’m Lucretia and I definitely am.” 

The first bell rings, interrupting the conversation.

“Ah, shit, gotta go. See you later Lucy!” she says and kisses the other girl on the lips. 

“See ya!” Lucretia smiles. 

Kravitz watches as the other kids fill into the room, there doesn't seem to be any assigned seats which is fine, but it's obvious who is friends with who as people sit with their friends and acquaintances. 

The first day of art class is just him doodling into his own sketchbook as Mr. Crow mostly talks to the drawing and painting students about their projects for the year. His sketchbook is a mess, though he has quite a bit of skulls with interesting designs in them. 

Lucretia doesn’t talk much, which Kravitz doesn't mind either. That just means he doesn't have to talk. But there's the awkward silence that comes with it as well, which he doesn't particularly like, though. 

Kravitz feels like he should either say something or put headphones on and listen to music. But he thinks that will just make it awkward since he just met her and knows nothing about her.

He begins to say something but Lucretia puts her own headphones on and continues to draw, which leaves him to the sudden silence of the classroom. So he just sits there for a moment, the silence cuts through him like a knife as he tries to draw. But luckily he brought his own headphones so he doesn't have to suffer through the complete silence for much longer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and Julia talk and Kravitz embarrasses himself (he's not having fun)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyy first fic update of the year! also this one hasnt been updated in a while gosh,,, i also went back and edited chapter two a bit.
> 
> thank you to the people featured in this chapter from the taz fic writers discord for allowing me to use their names!

First hour was kinda boring. Mx. Woof introduced themselves, gave a general outline about what the class would be about and then had the class circle up and do an icebreaker. The class is a mix of all four grades and Taako honestly can’t tell who’s a freshman and who’s a sophomore. But there’s a couple juniors he knows from previous classes.   
  
Luckily, Mx. Woof didn’t ask about soulmates or even mention having one. Taako can’t tell if they have marks on their arms and doesn’t want to pry. Ren thinks they had a falling out and separated. But it's none of the teacher’s business to ask about those kinds of things anyway.  
  
But now he has to go all the way across the school to the art wing so he can get to second-hour jewelry.   
  
He pushes through the chaos of the 900, 600 and 700 intersection and gets to class just before the bell rings.  
  
Much to Taako’s surprise, Julia has this class too. So he sets his stuff down on the table and plops down into the chair next to her, “Have I ever told you how much I hate the 900, 700 and 600 intersection? Because I hate it.”   
  
Julia looks up at him with a grin, “No, no you haven’t,” she says sarcastically, “I didn’t know you had this class.”  
  
“Had to fill up my schedule somehow,” he laughs with a shrug.   
  
“I’m taking it because it has to do with my chosen career path.”  
  
“I thought you wanted to be a carpenter?” Taako asks confusedly.  
  
“Yeah, I want to be a mix of a carpenter and a blacksmith or whatever. Magnus wants to be a carpenter.” Julia explains.  
  
“If they allowed him to carry a knife in school, he’d be carving all day wouldn’t he?”   
  
Julia nods with a smile, “If only they did.”   
  
“Tayko Highchurch?”   
  
“I’m here,” he raises his hand slightly, “It’s, uh pronounced like the food,” he says awkwardly.  
  
“How was your first hour?” Julia asks, “All that happened in sports exploration was that we got assigned our lockers for the semester.”   
  
“We did this icebreaker where we had to circle up and say something about ourselves to someone else? It was interesting.”   
  
Julia nods, “Playing volleyball again this year, right?” she asks.  
  
“Fuck yeah, Carey and I are captains. Our first game is this tomorrow night.” he grins.  
  
“Right, right I forgot about that.”   
  
“Julia Waxman?”   
  
“Here!”   
  
“How’s football going? Kicking the ball hard?”   
  
“Real hard,” she grins with a laugh, “Kinda wish I could actually play sometimes.”   
  
“Yeah,” Taako nods, “You’d be a good player.”   
  
“Aw, thank you” she grins.  
  
Taako pulls out his phone and opens discord to check the new messages in the group chat as Mx. Scout explains the classroom norms, which he’s only half paying attention to.   
  
**_Let me carve in school_** _: I just saw a bunch of freshman with maps walking around the hallway during passing time and oh my god it was the greatest thing ever_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _You can’t bring knives to school!_** _: that was you once, Magnus._ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Let me carve in school_** _: I know Lucretia_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Bringing a knife to school_** _: hell yeah look at those little children with their maps_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No knives allowed_** _: some of them are taller than you babe_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Bringing a knife to school_** _: >:(_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Bringing a knife to school_** _: I know, but still_  
  
Taako chuckles and Julia nudges him to pay attention because the teacher is talking about how to be safe with the equipment.  
  
Mx. Scout then passes out safety agreements in case if anyone gets hurt, she won’t get sued or anything. Then they show the class around the classroom and how to operate the machines safely.  
  
Taako was only mostly paying attention to this part.  
  
Once they were done showing everyone how to operate everything they had the rest of the hour to themselves so Taako pulls out his phone once again.  
  
“Aw what, they blocked Discord.” Julia pouts.  
  
“Ugh, yeah, that’s why I got a VPN for that and other shit.”   
  
“Y’know that’s a good idea.”  
  
He grins, “Natch.”   
  
**_Stabby stab_** _has added_ **_No.3113_** _to the group chat._  
  
 ** _Fire knife_** _: HEWWO??_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _What’s with all the knives_** _: Lup no_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Fire knife_** _: Lup yes_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _You can’t bring knives to school!_** _: hewwo?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _You can’t bring knives to school!_** _: I’m sorry._ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Shitty plastic school knife_** _: Lucy, never say hewwo again,,,_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Stabby stab:_** _this is my soulmate, Noelle, maybe change your names back to normal so she can know your names?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Scalpel:_** _no, never_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Stabby stab_** _\--- > _**_Ren_** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Ren_** _: please_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Also wants to carve in school_** _\--- > _**_Julia._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Julia_** _: hi!_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Julia:_** _I agree with taako, never say hewwo again Lucretia. It sounds incredibly cursed coming out of your mouth_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Julia_** _: er, typed. You know what I mean._ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Just a knife_** _: oh shit hi_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Please stab me_** _\--- > _**_Johann._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Johann_** _: sup_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Just a knife_** _\--- > _**_Avi_** _._ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Avi_** _: aren't yall supposed to be in class anyways?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Shitty plastic school knife_** _\--- > _**_Taako From TV._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Taako From TV_** _: arent you?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Taako From TV_** _: Mx. Crow gave us the rest of the hour as free time_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No knives allowed_** _\--- > _**_Killian._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Killian_** _: literally nothing is happening in gym class rn_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Avi_** _: I meant learning_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Fire knife_** _\--- > _**_Lup._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Lup_** _: Its the first day of school, nothing happens on the first day of school. Not even learning_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _What’s with all the knives_** _\--- > _**_Barry_** _._ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Barry_** _: sometimes teachers have you learn on the first day_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Let me carve in school_** _\--- > _**_Magnus._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Bringing a knife to school_** _\--- > _**_Carey._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Scalpel_** _: I’m staying scalpel_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Scalpel_** _: I’m Maureen btw_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No.3113_** _: hi! Nice to meet yall_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Avi_** _: nvm_ _  
_ _  
_Taako sits back in his seat with a sigh. He is suddenly very bored for no reason.  
  
Julia gives him a look and raises an eyebrow.  
  
“What? I’m bored.”   
  
“Put your earbuds in and play music instead of sighing dramatically.”   
  
“That wasn’t sighing dramatically.” Taako grins, “This is sighing dramatically,” he says and sighs very dramatically as an example. _  
__  
_**_Julia_** _: Taako is being dramatic again_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Taako From TV_** _: I’m literally only sighing_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Julia_** _: but dramatically_ _  
_ _  
_Taako sighs dramatically again _  
_ _  
_ ** _Julia_** _: he did it again_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Taako From TV_** _: ;)_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Lup_** _: lol_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No.3113_** _: why is he doing that?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Taako From TV_** _: I’m depressed_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Johann_** _: mood?_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Scalpel_** _: worm_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Lucretia_** _has changed_ ** _Scalpel’s_** _name to_ ** _Maureen._** _  
_ _  
_ ** _Maureen_** _: heyyy >:’(_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Lucretia_** _: <3_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Barry_** _: welcome to hell_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Ren_** _: these are all my friends from school I was telling you about_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No.3113_** _: oh cool_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _No.3113_** _: I asked my parents if we could move closer to you and they said maybe_ _  
_ _  
_ ** _Ren_** _: :D!_ _  
_  
Taako got a sudden pang of jealousy deep down in his stomach and frowns. So he closes discord and puts his earbuds in so he can listen to music. He opens Spotify and puts on his favorites playlist to try to cheer himself up. Taako then lays his head on his arms and stares at the wall.  
  
Julia notices his sudden change in mood and rubs his back in comfort. He really hates feeling this way.   
  
He wishes he wasn’t alone.  
  
~~~  
  
For Kravitz, first hour went by fairly quickly. He quickly packs up his sketchbook and heads towards second hour. English with Ms. Kat, but apparently not to be confused with Mrs. Kath who’s his music teacher. He’s bound to get the two confused.  
  
He enters the classroom and feels awkward. The desks are arranged so that it's four to a group and most of them are already taken. Everyone is sitting with a friend or soulmate and that just leaves him, the new kid, lost.   
  
So he sits down at a table with an open seat, one of the girls gives him a smile while the other gives him a judging look before going back to her phone. The boy across from him also smiles.  
  
The bell rings moments later, well, Kravitz doesn’t even consider it a bell. It’s more like noise from an alarm clock. Imagine that going off every hour.  
  
Ms. Kat stands up from her desk after the bell rings and starts talking, “Okay Y'all, I’m gonna pass out some sticky notes. Write your name on them we’re doing an icebreaker between you and your table mates. Two truths and a lie, you will share them with your tablemates.” she instructs as she passes out the sticky notes.  
  
The girl sitting diagonally from him scoffs in annoyance but writes on her sticky note anyway.  
  
He thinks for a moment on what to put, he should be truthful about it. So he puts that he is new here and that he has a pet fish. The pet fish one is a lie. Kravitz doesn’t have any pets. He wonders if he should put that he doesn’t have a soulmate?   
  
After a moment of thought, he caves and puts it down, his face feels warm in pre-embarrassment.  
  
“Okay everyone, share those two truths and a lie with your table and introduce yourselves.”  
  
Before anyone else at his table can speak the girl who scoffed earlier speaks up, “I’m Valerie, I went to Italy over the summer, I have three cats and my favorite color is mauve,” she grins slightly.  
  
“Uh, the lie is that you went to Italy.” the other boy guesses.  
  
She almost looks insulted, “No, it's the three cats. I have four.”  
  
He shrugs, “okay I guess I’ll go next. Uh, I’m Keats, I had cancer before, I have two older siblings who are both asses. Um, I have a dog.”  
  
“Is it the cancer one?” the other girl asks.  
  
“Nah, I don’t have a dog.”   
  
“Oh.” Kravitz says surprised, “Also that’s an oddly specific thing to say about siblings.”   
  
“Eh, they may be asses but they care. Sometimes.” he grins.  
  
Before Kravitz can say anything else the girl next to him speaks up, “I’m Kara and I can put my thumb behind my closed fist, uh I can say the alphabet backwards, and I can sing the titular song from the Phantom of the Opera musical almost completely by myself, but not at once.” she smiles.  
  
“I’m going to say the thumb thing?” Valerie guesses.  
  
“Nope!” Kara laughs, “I can actually do that,” she says and demonstrates.   
  
“What the fuck?” Keats whispers in awe.  
  
Kravitz’s eyes widen, “that’s uh, impressive,” he clears his throat, “I guess it’s my turn now. Um, I’m new here, I have a pet goldfish and I do currently not have a soulmate.”  
  
“The soulmate one,” Valerie says confidently.  
  
“Uh, actually, I don’t have a… soulmate…” he says with embarrassment.  
  
“What? But everyone has a soulmate! It’s practically impossible for you not to have one!”   
  
“W-well, it’s true,” he feels his face grow warm again.  
  
“Have you even tried writing on your arm?” She asks in exasperation.  
  
He doesn’t respond; he stares at the table. He gave up on writing on his arm a while ago.  
  
“Hey fuck off Valerie. It’s none of your business. Also, that was really shitty of you," Keats scowls, “You okay man?” he asks in concern.   
  
He nods slightly and tries not to flinch when Kara pats his back comfortingly. It was a bad idea to sit here and an even worse idea to put that he doesn’t have a soulmate down. The day was going fine but now it was ruined.  
  
But at least Kara and Keats care. Maybe that’s an upside of this. He hopes the rest of the day will be better than this class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im a slut for chatroom fics so i had to add an element of that
> 
> follow me on tumblr at executive-cucumber!

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it!


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